Milton, ND
Milton, ND's wildfire risk, in USFS's own numbers
Out of every US place USFS scores, Milton lands at the 55th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 122 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Milton at the 50th percentile, close to its 55th-percentile risk score.
Milton's building exposure, zone by zone
Most of Milton's buildings (69.7%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Milton compares
Milton's risk sits at a similar level relative to North Dakota (62nd percentile statewide) as it does nationally (55th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Milton ranks 14,160 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 28,078 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Dakota alone, it ranks 153 of 402 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Dakota on its state page.
Milton and the insurance market
Milton's elevated wildfire rating (55th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Milton's 69.7% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Milton's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Milton's 14,160-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Milton's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.